The Lonely Kunoichi
by Reiko Svit-Kona
Summary: Her pulse was slow but still there. He wondered what to do with her. If she was an enemy it would be stupid to save her. She was going to die soon so why not just put her out of her misery now? For some strange reason he just couldn't kill her...
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story so enjoy. This is a fanfiction, ergo i do not own any of the characters, places, ect. This takes place after the first arc in Naruto Shippuden. I am so happy to finally have this up because it took me forever to write...  
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Chapter 1

A gentle wind blew through the small village. A few ninjas patrolled the dark borders. The Village Hidden in the Ash was a small shinobi village in the Land of Wind. The breeze blew, causing autumn leaves to fall to the soot covered ground. Unlike most areas in the desert-like Land of Wind, the Village Hidden in Ash was located in a wooded area. This was due to the two rivers that flowed through the area and the rich soil the came from the four dormant volcanoes that surrounded the village. The rustling leaves masked the sound of the group of rouge ninjas waiting just outside the village border. They sat waiting for the signal. Three flashed of light shown from a nearby tree. Another ninja passed the signal along. The attack had begun.

A young kunoichi woke with a start as a male shinobi with long brown hair burst through her bedroom door.

"Rei! Get up, we need to go!" he yelled

The girl rubbed her eyes; trying to wake herself up "What the hell is going on Tobi?" she asked her team mate.

"The village is under attack! We need to go help. Meet me outside in five minutes." And with that, the shinobi left the room and dashed outside.

Rei jumped out of bed and quickly redressed into her regular outfit: black shorts, black tank-top, and her long black boots. She threw on her dark purple jacket, then attached her bag, which contained a few shurikan and kunai and a small medical kit, to her waist. Finally she strapped her sword to her back and dashed out of the door, putting her long, black hair into a messy bun as she ran.

An explosion shook the ground as she ran outside. A few houses were on fire and a tree came crashing through the roof of the building next door. Rei and Tobi ran through the village taking out a few enemies as they went. Civilians ran from burning buildings and dead bodies lay in the street. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Rei dug her nails into the palm of her hand._ Who could do such a thing? What could they want?_ she thought to herself. The two shinobi made their way to the center of the village. It did not look good as Rei and her partner approached the front line. The enemy forces contained at least 80 men by the looks of it. Their village was small, containing only about 34 shinobi. Rei and Tobi quickly joined the fight. Rei felt the slight decrease in her chakra as she turned her long silver nails into ten-inch daggers, a special jutsu of hers. She shot the daggers from her right hand, taking out two of the enemies. They quickly grew back and she stabbed another enemy who was about to hit Tobi. Tobi fought off three more enemies with his twin, poison swords.

They continued to fight but no matter how many shinobi they killed, there were always more to take their place. They had now been fighting for over an hour. Crimson blood dripped from Rei's fingers. A shinobi had put a long, deep gash across the bridge of her nose. She could taste the blood as it dripped down her face. The enemy forces were now pushing them back. Another shinobi put a long cut on her left arm forcing so she jumped to the back where she quickly bandaged it to stop the bleeding. Tobi appeared by her side and helped tie the bandage.

"You alright?" he asked

Rei nodded her head and tried to wipe the blood from her face but the gash on her nose wouldn't stop bleeding "What are we going to do Tobi? There are way too many. They now outnumber us three to one. We are not going to last much longer"

"I don't know but we have to think of something"

Rei jumped out of the way as a kunai suddenly flew towards her, a large explosive tag was wrapped around the handle. Rei felt Tobi smash into her, tackling her to the ground away from the bomb. He lay over her, shielding her from the explosion. There was a blinding flash and a lot of heat. She got up as fast as she could and turned Tobi over.

"Reiko?" coughed Tobi, "Are... are you alright?"

"Shit! Tobi listen to me, your going to be fine. I'll get you out of here so just hold on"

"Rei...no, you have to get out of here now!" he said as he grabbed her hand.

"No! Don't be stupid. You know I won't leave you here to die!"

"Rei, please listen to me. I want you to leave me. You have to get out of here while you can. There are too many of them. We won't make it. I want you to live" his hand slipped out of hers.

"Tobi! No!"

"Go...please. I love you Reiko..." he coughed

"I love you too Tobi" said Rei as the only person she had ever cared about died in her arms. A single tear rolled down her face.

Another explosion off to the side brought Reiko back to the battle. She kissed Tobi one last time then darted into the forest. She kept running until she came to a small clearing. She couldn't run any farther so she sat down at the base of a large tree to catch her breath. She knew she needed to get away. She told Tobi she would.

There was a rustle in the trees and five ninjas jumped down into the clearing. On normal circumstances she would have been able to take them, but she was hurt and low on chakra.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said the man in front, "Did you get scarred and run off like a little girl? Ha! Some ninja you are!" he laughed

"Shut the F**k up!" yelled Rei as she threw a kunai, hitting the man in the throat. He clutched his neck and fell to the ground. The others he was with charged at Rei. She got up just in time to block an attack with her sword. She quickly cut off the head of the second man. His blood wet her blade and sprayed the men behind him. The third man came at her and put a deep cut on the outside of her thigh. She yelled in pain and rage as she stabbed him through the chest. She finished off the next man in a similar way. She stumbled as she put her weight on her injured leg. The last man used this as a chance to attack and he stabbed the kunoichi in the side.

She yelled as the blade went into her side. She felt the tip of the sword bury itself into her rib and then retreat back as the man pulled away. She smashed the butt of her sword into the man's temple and he crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Rei stumbled over to another tree and slid to a sitting position. She held her hand over the wound in her side. Warm blood oozed over her fingers. Her vision became blurred. She knew she was loosing too much blood. She reached into the pocket on the inside of her pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. She turned it over in her hand to see a picture of Tobi smiling at her. Another wave of pain washed over her and she clenched her fist, wrinkling the small photo. She fell onto the cold ground. "Shit! I'm sorry Tobi..." she said as she blacked out.

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Well hopefully that wasn't too bad. I enjoyed writing it at least. Please let me know what you think. If you hated it, let me know why. If you thought it was an epic failure, let me know why. If you enjoyed it (hopefully you did) let me know why. I had written this chapter and the next 5 all in one night (so i stayed up till 6 in the morning. Yay!) so I will have them up soon... or now, depending on when you are reading this :)  
~Reiko


	2. Chapter 2

Alright Chapter two is up. YAY! Please enjoy. This chapter is really short, sorry. It looked a lot bigger in the word document :( Anyways, please let me know if you think the Rating is too high. There is nothing to horrible naughty or saucy but Rei does have a mild swearing issue. Again this is a fanfiction so I (unfortunately) don't own any of the characters and whatnot.  
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Chapter 2

~Earlier that night~

The sun was setting as a young ninja traveled through the forest. He was pale with long, blood-red hair. A large gourd was strapped to his back. He was traveling to a small village known as the Village Hidden in the Ash. He was going to meet with the leader of the village to renew an alliance with them. The mission was not something he was looking forward to. Missions like this normally involved long, boring meetings with a bunch of arguing old men. He couldn't help it though. It was part of his job. It's just one of those things you have to do as leader of Sunagakure: The Kazekage. He was only a few hours away now.

It was later that night when the Kazekage noticed the smoke and orange glow in the sky. It was coming from the village. He quickened his pace, rushing to get there as soon as possible. The Kazekage slowed as he neared the village. He could hear voices as he approached. He jumped into a tall tree to get a better view and was surprised by what he saw. The village was completely destroyed. Half of it was burned to the ground. Whoever attacked this place was still there. A large horde of men were raiding the city for any valuables they could find. _Rouge ninjas..._ he thought to himself. There was nothing he could do at the time so he headed into the forest to make camp for the night.

He had only been running for a few minutes when he came across a clearing in the forest. He dropped down to the ground to find six bodies; five men and a girl. he checked to see if any of them were still alive. The first two were definitely dead; one with a kunai in his throat and the other was beheaded. He came walked over to the next four. Two died of sword wounds to the chest. The next one was dead; it appeared to be from a blow to the head. But the final one...

"Hn?" _The girl was still alive?_ She looked to be about 16 or 17, and was bleeding from multiple wounds. Her pulse was slow but definitely still there. He wondered what to do with her. If she was an enemy it would be stupid to save her. She was probably going to die soon so why not just put her out of her misery? But for some strange reason he couldn't kill her. He picked up the dying kunoichi and the sword that was lying next to her. A small piece of paper fell out of her hand. He reached down and picked it up. It was a small photo of a young man with long brown hair and bright green eyes. He quickly stuffed it in the girl's coat pocket, and then headed farther into the forest.

"All right... don't die" he whispered

_What am I doing???_

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Done! Read and Rate please. Like I said it was really short but it was important to the story. My story is finally compleated and I just have to put the rest of the chapters up. I have no idea how some people can put up one chapter when the rest of their story is not finished. I have rewritten so many things in this story. Everytime I read through it I had to change something! Well, I hope this wasn't too bad...  
~Reiko


	3. Chapter 3

AHHHH! Not Again. This one is also very short! It just looked so much longer when I wrote it by hand and when it typed it up. Oh darn. Well please enjoy chapter 3.  
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The Kazekage gently set the injured girl against a tree. He quickly set up camp and brought out his medical kit. _Why the hell am I even bothering? I don't even know her._ he thought to himself. The girl's breathing was slow and she had a fever. He put the girl on his bed and took her jacket off so he could treat her wounds. She had a lot of injuries but he only focused on the more important ones; a deep cut on her left arm, which was bleeding through the thin bandages that were already poorly wrapped around it, a stab wound on her side and an injury on her right thigh. There was also a large gash across her nose. He placed a bandage across her nose and cut off the bandage around her arm. He cleaned the wound and stitched it up, then recovered it in fresh bandages. He lifted her shirt up to get to the stab wound in her side. He blushed as her cleaned the cut. He quickly stitched up the cut and bandaged it as quickly as he could. Finally, he slipped her shorts off to inspect the wound on her leg. He blushed even more. _I really hope she doesn't slap me for this later...if she even lives that is. Temari and Kankuro must never find out about this. Oh, what would they say knowing that I undressed an unconscious, young girl? It's not without a good reason but they would never believe me. I would never hear the end of it_. He quickly treated the injury, blushing the entire time. The Kazekage then wrapped the girl in his blanket and made himself a bed out of sand. He stayed next to the girl so he could check on her during the night.

He looked into the sky with his pale, gray-green eyes. After a while he turned to his side to see the girl. He starred at her for a while. Her long black hair had a purple gleam to it in the light. She was also very pail like him. Her features were sharp and almost cat like. She was good looking, even with the large white bandage on the middle of her face.

The girl stirred. The Kazekage propped himself up on his elbow, ready to restrain her if needed. The girl just took a deep breath and then was calm. The boy got up a got a wet rag which he placed on the kunoichi's forehead. Then he lay back down on his bed. He stayed up the entire night watching the girl. Going without sleep was something he was use to.

He got up early the next morning and checked on the girl. He fever had broken and she was breathing steadily. Although he did not want to leave the girl alone, he went back to see the village. A sand clone was left behind to watch over the girl in case any of the men who attacked the village found the camp or, if by some chance she woke up. There was not much left of the small shinobi village. Most of the buildings were burned down and there was no sign of any survivors. He picked up a shinobi headband and brushed ashes of the metal piece on the front. A small volcano was engraved in it. There was nothing left at the village so he headed back to camp, leaving the headband tied around a burnt tree. The girl stirred as the boy returned to his camp. All of a sudden she bolted upright. She yelped in pain from the movement and clutched her side. The Kazekage got up quickly and ran over to her. He laid her back down to the ground.

"Where... where am I? Who are you?" she asked. Her speech was slurred like she wasn't fully awake.

"Relax. My name is Gaara, you're safe now."

The girl sighed and closed her eyes. "Tobi..." She mumbled, before quickly falling asleep.

_What happened to this girl? I'll just have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe she might be able to tell me what exactly happened here._

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Well there you go, Chapter 3. Like I said it was very short so i apologize. This chapter and chapter 2 are the really short ones. Please let me know what you think!  
~Reiko


	4. Chapter 4

I am so excited. I finally got my temps yesterday! Yay! I passed on my first try so thats good. Anyways here is chapter four, and look! It's longer than the last chapter. I told you those were going to be the shortest chapter :)  
I would also like to apologize for any grammer mistakes right now. I type way too fast and make a lot of mistakes. I have read through this multiple times but there are probably still a lot of mistakes in the story. Well enjoy  
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Chapter 4

The air felt cool against her face. It was dark but warm. _Am I dead?_ Reiko thought to herself. Then she felt the pain. Her whole body ached and her head was pounding. _Oh Shit! Nope, not dead, at least not yet. _She forced herself to open her eyes. It was late. She noticed her injuries had been treated._ How long was I out? What happened and how did I get here?_

"So you're finally awake?" asked a male voice.

Rei looked over to see a pale boy with crimson hair starring at her from across a fire. His pale green eyes seemed to be studying her. He had dark rings around his eyes.

She sat up too fast and winced as pain shot through her body. "Who are you? Where am I?" She reached for her sword but it was missing.

"If you lie down and take it easy I will tell you." He said coldly. The girl leaned back more but still remained tense. Her dark purple eyes watched him closely. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara. I'm the Kazekage"

"You're the Kazekage?"

"Yes, now let me finish. As for where we are, we are a mile or so outside of the Village Hidden in the Ash. I found you half dead in a forest so I decided to help you. Got that?" The girl nodded, eyes still watching him. "Would you mind telling me your name and how you ended up bleeding and unconscious in the forest?"

"The name's Reiko, but I guess you can call me Rei. I am a shinobi of the Village Hidden in Ash. Rouge ninjas attacked us during the night, but I was able to escape, which is why I was in the forest"

"Where's your headband?"

"I don't know I probably forgot it in my room. It's not like I sleep with it on. Didn't I say we were attacked in the middle of the night? I was in a rush. I was barely able to make it out of there."

"Alright so you abandoned your village then?"

The girl glared at him. "I'm not a coward if that's what you think! We were a small village and they greatly outnumbered us. There was no way we could have won. I stayed as long as I could but..." Her expression suddenly changed. She looked like she was holding back tears. "Well... I got hurt so I left" As quickly as it came, her expression changed back to a cold, stare. They sat in silence for a while

"Do you want something to eat?" asked Gaara

She realized how hungry she was and cautiously accepted the food. "How long was I out?" she asked after she finished eating.

"Two days"

"Oh...wow. By any chance did you find any other survivors?"

"No. So where will you go now. I was at you village last night. There really isn't anything to go back to."

"Huh? Oh, well I'm not really sure"

"You should probably head to the Sand Village. Its closest and some of your people might be there"

"I'm not looking for anyone. I was only close with one person and I know they will not be there. Are you heading back after this?" Gaara nodded his head "Can I come with you then?"

"No"

"What? So you're just going to leave me here? Alone...and injured... in the middle of the forest?"

"Not my problem. I saved you to find out what happened. I found out so I'm leaving. It's not my job to take care of you."

"Some gentleman you are. Fine! I guess I'll just have to fend for myself, a weak and injured girl, in this big, scary, dangerous forest" She said, trying to sound as helpless and desperate as she could. _Time to finish this!_ She started with just sniffling then in another minute she started to pretend to cry softly until Gaara finally said something.

Gaara sighed with annoyance. "Fine" he growled. "You can come as long as you shut up."

Rei stopped immediately. "Sweet" she smiled. She lied back down in her bed and started to hum to herself and in a few minutes she was asleep.

Gaara rolled his eyes. _What is with this girl?_ he sighed_._

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Haha Reiko is a very interesting person wouldn't you say? And Gaara, must you be so cold and emotionless? Haha well I hope I did a good job keeping him in character. Let me know if you think I failed at that. Please review :)  
~Reiko


	5. Chapter 5

I am very proud of myself. I have been driving aroud and havent gotten close to killing anyone, including myself. Yay! Well I really enjoy this chapter. Hopefully you find this a little funny too :)  
Oh and I do not own any of the characters and places and such...  
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Chapter 5

Rei woke up early the next morning. She stretched her sore muscles and was about to get up when she realized she wasn't' wearing pants. _What the Hell! _She searched the ground and found a few rocks. She threw the first one, hitting the Kazekage in the head. He just turned over. She threw a second one but this time it bounced off a wall of sand.

"What do you want?" growled the boy.

"Where are my pants?!"

Gaara turned over. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me! Where the hell are my pants?!"

"What the f**k are you tal-.. Oh..."

_Did he just blush?_ thought Rei.

"Don't look at me like that" snapped Gaara. "I'm not a pervert. I didn't do anything to you. I had to wrap the cut on your thigh" said Gaara as he got out of bed and threw Rei her shorts.

"Creeper" mumbled Rei.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing" replied Rei in a mocking tone.

"Well I see your feeling better" Mumbled Gaara to himself.

Reiko quickly put on her shorts and she and Gaara packed their stuff. They started towards the Sand Village, traveling silently. Because of Reiko's injuries they had to stop a few times, which cost them a lot of time.

The sun had already set by the time they came across the building. Gaara motioned towards the building. "We'll stay here tonight"

"A hot springs?" Gaara nodded. Reiko shrugged her shoulders, "I don't have an money so you're paying" she said as she walked into the building. The two of them bought a room from the small old woman in the lobby, and then went up stairs to drop off their stuff. Rei headed straight into the bathroom. She quickly undressed then hopped in the shower. The hot water felt good on her tired muscled. While Rei was in the shower Gaara also undressed then put on a robe. He headed down to the main floor and into the hot spring.

Rei enjoyed her shower. She thought it was better than sitting in used bathwater with a bunch of nude old ladies. _So gross!_ After her shower she redressed and redid her bandages, then walked towards the door. At the same time Gaara was coming in and the two collided as they walked through the door. Reiko ran straight into Gaara's rock-hard chest causing her to almost fall backwards.

"Watch where you're going" he said

Rei stuck her tongue out at him as he walked by. "Well I'll be downstairs stealing from the restaurant if you need me" she said with a thievish grin. Before Gaara could respond she had slipped out of the door.

Gaara climbed into the one bed they had in the room after changing into some clean clothes. _She is such a child!_ Rei was down stairs and he figured she would wake him when she got back, so he decided to take a quick break. She didn't...

When Rei woke up she was laying comfortably in a man's arms. She leaned into his chest. She could feel his hot breath on her face. _That was one hell of a dream._ "Tobi, I had the oddest dream last night. No more late night drinking alright?" She opened her eyes but it wasn't Tobi that was holding her. He was way too pale and his hair was dark red.

"Holy Shit! You Pervert! What the hell do you think your doing?!"

Gaara quickly woke up to find himself holding Rei. This didn't last long though. She sat up quickly and, using both feet, kicked him in the chest, sending him flying off the bed.

"What is wrong with you?!" she yelled

"Whats wrong with me? What is wrong with you?" He yelled back. "Crazy bitch" he mumbled to himself as he picked himself up off the floor.

Before they could finish their argument they heard a scream from downstairs. They grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the room.

A group of familiar men stood in the lobby, gathered around the front desk. The one in the front had the old lady picked up by the frond of her dress. Gaara looked over at Reiko and saw ten-inch steel daggers where her nails should be.

"It's them!" She said with venom in her voice.

"Who?"

"These are some of the men that attacked my village. They are the ones responsible for Tobi's death. I won't forgive them. They shall die where they stand!"

Rei rushed at the small group of men in the lobby. A fountain of blood erupted from the nearest man's chest as Rei's nails shredded through him. More blood came as she sliced the throat of another man. Blood splattered her face and clothing. The man in the front dropped the old lady and she quickly ran outside. He jumped towards Rei, but before he could even attack, a large steel spike shot out of the ground and through his stomach. The rest of the men charged after her, angry that she had killed their comrades. Gaara joined the fight when one of the ninjas made the mistake of coming at him with a sword. He easily blocked the attack and crushed him and two other men with sand coffin. The fight continued until all of the shinobi lay dead, their pools of blood spreading. Rei sat on the body of a dead man, continuously punching the face of the large ninja. Gaara used his sand to gently grab her hand, in mid-swing. A single tear rolled down her angry face. Gaara noticed how small she looked compared to all of her, now dead, opponents. He knelt down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.

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I know that last bit was a bit out of character for Gaara but these two need to start their relationship out somehow *saucy eyebrows*. You will just have to keep reading to find out what happens with these two. Well like I said I hope you found this a little funny. I also hope you found Reiko to be as bad-ass as I do :). Please let me know what you think.  
~Reiko


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6! w00t! This chapter was originally a lot shorter because I couldn't think of anything else to write in it. While working on the last few chapters I got stuck so I went back and read through my story. I hated this chapter so I decided to add more to it. I both hate and love this chapter but hopefully one of you will love it and not hate it at all :) Enjoy and I do not own any of the places or characters.  
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Chapter 6

"Bastards..." spat Reiko

"We need to get out of here"

Reiko sat in the middle of a blood filled lobby. "Get your hands off me" she growled as she shrugged his hand off her shoulder. They got up and went back to their room. After a bit of protest Rei allowed Gaara to stitch up the gash on her arm after it had reopened during the fight. After they had both cleaned up they snuck out the window and continued on the road to the Hidden Sand Village.

"Rei?" asked Gaara as they ran along the path, finally tired of the silence that filled their travel.

"Hmm..." she hummed in reply

"Well... umm" Gaara quickly though of something to say "Well I was just wondering what that jutsu you used earlier was. I've never seen anything like that, well at least the finger nail part."

That got a smile out of her. "Well I sure hope you haven't. I invented it on my own" she stated proudly. "I simply build up chakra in my fingers for the jutsu and it allows me to turn my already amazing nails into beautiful instruments of death" she said with an evil grin.

"Wait, wouldn't you break your fingers slicing and stabbing people with you fingers?"

Oh, well that's another part of the jutsu, but it wouldn't be any fun if I told you everything about my technique.

"Whatever"

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you. That way you would have to guess instead of me just telling you."

"Umm"

The kunoichi slowed to a stop. "I'll show you this but if you guess right you can't tell anyone, alright? I don't know who you could tell that would care but you still have to promise"

"Yeah sure"

"Alright, come here then" she sighed as Gaara walked over to her. "Okay, now grab my hand"

"Well, umm..."

"Do you want me to show you or not?"

Gaara sighed with annoyance "Fine" he nervously grabbed her hand, which felt abnormally cold and hard.

"Now try and break my finger."

"Huh? Wait, what?" said Gaara, letting go of her hand.

"You heard me, break my finger"

"There's no way I'm doing that"

"Come on, just do it!"

"No"

"Quit being a sissy. You can kill people without thinking but you won't break my finger?"

"I will not break your finger without a reason. I saved your life. Why would I hurt your for no reason. That sort of defeats the purpose of protecting you"

"Go ahead and try, I bet you won't be able to do it anyways" she challenged.

"What?"

"What if I make a bet with you? How about that?"

"Oh really?" he replied, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, if you can break my finger, I will leave you alone right here and head my own way. No more watching out for me and all that other good stuff."

"You really want me to do this?"

"Hell yeah! I said I would show you. Plus I doubt you can do it so I'm not worried

"Why the hell am I letting you talk me into this? Fine." Gaara hesitantly took Rei's index finger. He took a deep breath and pulled back hard. To Gaara's surprise there was no sickening crack. In fact, he could barely bend her finger at all. "What the?"

"Ha! I told you that you wouldn't be able to do it!" _Epic Fail!_

"How?"

"I said that you have to guess. I'm not just going to tell you.

"I'm not going to play your silly games. Just tell me."

"No! I told you to guess."

Whatever. Screw you" he growled as he walked away.

"When, where and how hard?" smirked Rei. Gaara rolled his eyes and kept walking.

They traveled the rest of the day and made camp in a cave once the sun went down. They were closer to the Sand Village so the area was becoming rocky and more desert like. They built a fire and Gaara set up the beds next to it. They both sat on their beds and stared into the fire. Reiko sat throwing a kunai into the ground beneath her feet.

"If you don't mind me asking, who was Tobi?" Gaara blurted out.

"What? Where did you hear that name?" She got up and walked over to his bed.

"You said it when you were fighting those ninjas today and you talk in your sleep."

"Did I say anything else?" Gaara shook his head 'no'. "Good" Rei sat down on Gaara's bed. "I'll tell you if you want."

"It's none of my business. Forget I asked.

"It's fine. I lived with him back in my village. We were going out and he was on my squad.

"So you were pretty close then?" commented Gaara. "What happened to him?"

"He was killed when those damn ninja attacked our village. We both went out to fight. A bomb went off, and he died in the explosion. This was him" she said pulling the photo of Tobi out of her pocket. She handed the photo to Gaara

Gaara noticed the picture he picked up a few days ago. "You said you were only close with one person. Didn't you have any family?" he asked handing the photo back. Rei quickly shoved it back into her pocket.

"Nope. I have the normal sad story of any lonely ninja. My parents died a few years ago leaving me all by myself. They were also Shinobi but they died on a mission"

"Oh, I'm sorry"

"Why? It wasn't your fault"

"Well, I.... never mind. _Why must she take things so literally?_

"It was a long time ago and they were always gone so I barely knew them."

"Oh" Gaara stared into the fire. "Must have been lonely" he said thinking back to when he was younger. He never had anyone. Everyone in his village had been afraid of him. Most of the villagers still were. Even his siblings were afraid of him but luckily they had gotten over that. _How odd though, this girl knows who I am but she doesn't even seem to care… she hasn't been the slightest bit afraid of me the entire time…_

"I guess, but I had Tobi so it never really bothered me."

They both sat in silence for a while. Reiko yawned and then minutes later she fell asleep. Her head fell on Gaara's shoulder.

"Rei!" he poked her to try to wake her up. He wasn't comfortable with her this close. He shook her shoulder. "Reiko?" She was sound asleep. He sighed in annoyance and looked into the fire. Within a few minutes, Gaara was also asleep.

When Reiko woke up in the morning she found herself face-to-face with a sleeping Gaara. She was going to get up but couldn't help from starring at his face. His messy red hair was all over his face, covering the tattoo on his forehead. He looked so calm and, even though she hated to admit it, sort of hot when he was asleep. He started to move so she quickly guy up and packed her stuff. She then went outside to watch the sun rise.

Gaara woke up about ten minutes later. Rei was gone so he grabbed his stuff and slung he gourd on to his back. He went outside and found Reiko sitting on top of the cave. The wind was blowing her hair around her face as she starred into the sky.

"Hey. Good morning" she said without even looking down.

"Uhh... yeah. Good morning."

She flipped off the cave and landed next to him. "Well, let's get going" she said as she started walking. Gaara nodded caught up to her.

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See, it was sort of bad. The begining sucks but I sort of like the end. Look at the two of them bonding. How nice :) Sorry there was so much pointless talking, I just wanted to make it a little longer. We are finally getting somewhere and I promise the next chapter will be a little more interesting, well hopefully ;) Don't forget to tell me what you think of it. I dont' care if you hated it or loved it, just let me know.  
~Reiko


	7. Chapter 7

Alright Chapter 7! Finally some good action in this chapter.  
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Chapter 7

It was noon. The sun was at its highest and they were in the middle of a rocky desert. Rei had never been so hot in her life. The sun baked rock beneath them seemed to be radiating more heat. She could feel the beads of sweat rolling down her skin. _How can Gaara live here all year?_ They were only a few miles away from the Sand Village and Rei couldn't wait to get there. Her pale skin felt like it was burning from it's over exposure to the shade-less desert.

The heat must have been getting to them because Gaara and Rei were both unable to notice when an unwanted guest appeared behind them.

"Well, what do we have here, a couple of lost shinobi?" asked a male voice.

Gaara and Rei quickly spun around. A man in a black cloak with bright red clouds on it stood a few yards away. A large straw hat covered his face and a large sword wrapped in bandages was strapped to his back. A strong wind blew, knocking his hat off, revealing his blue skin and shark-like appearance

"Kisame" growled Gaara "What do you want?"

_The Akatsuki from the Seven Swordsman of the Mist? What is he doing here?_ thought Rei.

"Who's your friend Gaara?" questioned Kisame

"Answer my question first" snapped Gaara.

"Haha! Very well. Let's just say that someone with a lot of money wants you dead"

"What?"

"Now don't be rude. You have to answer my question." smirked Kisame, flashing two rows of pointed teeth.

"I can introduce myself you know." interrupted the kunoichi, "My name is Reiko, and let me tell you right now you oversized tuna, if you lay a hand on Gaara I will personally tear you throat out!" she threatened.

"Reiko! Get out of here"

"What? No!"

"You're no match for this guy"

"What's this?" Kisame smiled. "Gaara, is this little brat your girlfriend?" Kisame started laughing. If their faces weren't already flushed from the heat, Kisame would have noticed both Gaara and Rei blush. "How could anyone like a monster like you?" He continued to laugh.

"I'm not a monster anymore. I guess I have you guys to thank for that." Gaara launched a large wave of san towards Kisame.

He quickly jumped above it and brought his large sword, Samehada, down, slicing the wave in half. The wrappings around the sword shredded at the top, revealing its dark shark-skin texture. Gaara pulled more sand out of his gourd and sent it flying at Kisame. Each time the sand was about to hit, it was blocked by Kisame's blade. Gaara was loosing twice as much chakra as usual_. It's that damn sword!_ Gaara shot a bunch of sand shurikan, but Kisame dodged all of them. He lunged forward and stabbed Gaara in the chest. As Kisame pulled his sword out, Gaara turned to sand. Kisame turned around just as Gaara shot more sand towards him. He blocked all but one. It grazed him on the arm.

"Hey, not bad kid. There aren't too many people that can even touch me. Well, I'm done messing around here. I got other things to do today. Let's see how good you are without your sand." Kisame clapped his hands together. "Water Seal: Aquatic Shockwave!" He sucked in a bunch of air then opened his mouth, releasing a flood of water. Rei and Gaara were swept back as a giant wave crashed over them. Rei summoned a giant steel spike out of the ground, cutting the stream of water so it went around her. She quickly grabbed Gaara as he floated by.

"Oi! Are you alright?" she asked. Gaara's whole body had turned a dark brown color.

"I thought I told you to leave!"

"And I told you no. I'm staying here with you. I'm going to help. Plus, you don't look too good."

"I'm fine. My sand is wet"

"I don't think so. Let me take care of this bastard." Said Rei, jumping up. Gaara reached up and grabbed her wrist.

"No! If you won't leave, then stay here. This guy is too strong for you. You will only get in my way."

"But…"

"Let me handle this. I'm not letting you get hurt."

"Well you can't fight with wet sand. I won't just let you go out there and get killed!"

_Is she really worried about me?_ "I'll be fine."

"Oh how sweet" said Kisame as he appeared above them, standing on the steel spike. "Sorry to cut this short but let's finish this up." He jumped down swinging his sword at where Gaara and Rei would have been if they had not rolled out of the way at the last second. Rei ducked as Kisame swung again. It missed her head by an inch. He lunged at Gaara. He tried to raise up a wall of sand but it was heavy and too slow. Kisame landed a deep cut on Gaara's shoulder. His crimson blood splashed on the ground. He quickly jumped back before Kisame could swing again.

"Gaara!" yelled Rei as she ran towards him. Kisame swung his blade but Rei flipped over it, landing next to Gaara. Before she could say anything, Kisame appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her by the back of the neck. "Get out of here you silly little girl" he said as he threw her into a large rock. He turned to Gaara. "We killed you once and now I will kill you again. This time I'll cut you to ribbons!" he yelled as he raised his sword.

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Ooh cliffhanger! Yay! Didn't I tell you it was going to get better? I tried to keep everyone in character but i'm not sure how well I did. Kisame isn't one of my favorite characters so I don't know too much about him and don't really pay too much attention to him. I just needed to find someone who could easily deffeat Gaara and I remembered how he couldn't fight too well when wet(hehe) so I thought Kisame would be perfect for the part. I also tried really hard to keep Gaara in character while still showing that he was protective and worried about Reiko. I had to rewrite his lines quite a few times until I liked them. Well I really liked the chapter and I hope you did too. Let me know what you think :)  
~Reiko


	8. Chapter 8

Yay, Chapter 8! Alrigh, I'm a little more than halfway done! The fight continues in this chapter. Please enjoy.  
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Chapter 8

Rei was only in the air for a few seconds before she smashed into a small rock formation. She fell to the ground twenty feet away from Gaara.

Gaara was not able to focus on the large Akatsuki member standing in front of him. All he could think about was Reiko lying at the base of a large rock. _Shit! Don't be dead! Please don't be dead!_

"We killed you once and now I will kill you again. This time I'll cut you to ribbons!" said Kisame, drawing Gaara's attention to him. Using the flat side of the blade like a club, he smashed it into Gaara sending him flying black. The blades texture tore through the front of his shirt, cutting up his chest. He hit the ground hard, landing on his chest.

Rei heard Gaara yell as he was thrown back, causing her to force open her eyes. She watched Gaara hit the ground. She struggled to her feet. Her side hurt from where she smashed into the rocks and she had to try to regain her breath after she had just gotten the wind knocked out of her. She saw Kisame standing over the Kazekage. He wasn't moving. She staggered forward, determined to help Gaara.

Kisame raised his sword over the bleeding and now unconscious Kazekage. "Let's finish this." He brought his sword down for the finishing blow, but instead of hitting his target, his sword struck a wall of steel that had appeared out of nowhere. "What the…?" He looked over to where he had thrown the girl but she was gone.

"Looking for me?" someone whispered off to his right.

He spun around, slicing his sword through the girl. She disappeared in a puff of smoke. It was only a shadow clone. "Hey fish face!" He turned to see Rei standing in front of Gaara, only a few yards away. She was breathing hard and holding a kunai in her hand.

"You brat. Get out of my way and I'll make sure your death is quick and painless."

"Like hell I would! You're not going to lay another hand on Gaara!"

Kisame ran forward. She threw the knife at him but he dodged it effortlessly. Rei clapped her hands together and a giant spike came up in front of him. He quickly dodged that too but another one just popped up again. He kept running forward, dodging giant spikes as they rose up out of the ground.

_Damn it, he's fast!_ Rei thought to herself.

Kisame jumped back as another one sprang up in front of him. Rei sent another one up at an angle behind him, which speared him thought the back. The tip of the spike protruded from the center of his chest.

"Damn, you got me." He laughed as he turned to water that splashed on the ground.

"What the-" she said _A water Clone! Shit! Where's the real one?_

"Gotcha!" said a voice behind her. She quickly jumped to the side as she summoned walls around Gaara. She yelled as Kisame cut open her back from her right shoulder to her left hip. _Damn! I wasn't fast enough! No! _Blood ran down her back. Her blood stained the white cloth around Kisame's sword. She fell to the ground landing face down. A dark stain began to form on the back of her shirt and was slowly spreading.

"Give up little girl, I win!" said Kisame. She struggled to her knees and turned to face him. "I'm going to kill your friend Gaara first so you can watch. Then I will kill you and leave you here in the desert where no one will ever find you." He said with an evil grin on his blue face. The girl smirked. "Huh? What could be so damn funny?" he growled.

"No! I win! Take this you son of a bitch!" She quickly formed some hand signs and then clapped her hands together. Thin spikes, that were about two feet long, shot out of the ground around her. Kisame howled as they pierced his legs in multiple places. His blood splattered Rei's face and dripped down the spikes. "Don't underestimate me" glared Rei.

"You bitch! You are going to regret doing this. I will be back and I will make sure I kill you!" Kisame disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Rei let out a sigh as she fell to the ground. She released her jutsu and all of the steel spikes disappeared in puffs of smoke. She forced herself up and she stumbled over to the Kazekage. He was unconscious but still breathing. His head was bleeding. It looked like he hit his head as he fell. His chest was also bloody under his shredded shirt. He was also bleeding a lot from the deep would on his shoulder. She took out her small medical kit and treated his wounds as well as she could. Only after she had taken care of him did she focus on her own injuries. She could feel the blood slowly dripping down her back where Kisame's sword had cut it open. She winced as she touched the gash. It was long but not too deep. It would probably leave a large scar though. Besides that she only had some bruising from where she hit the rocks. She bandaged her back as well as she could then popped a soldier pill in her mouth. She swallowed it and a few seconds later felt her energy increase. It wasn't much but it was all she could do. She picked up Gaara, putting his arms around her neck. He wasn't as heavy as she thought but his weight still make carrying him hard. The large gourd didn't help. The gashed on her back burned as he pressed against it. He was taller than her so his feet dragged on the grounds as she carried him. Rei started walking towards the Sand Village. They weren't far. She knew she could make it. She had to make it for Gaara's sake. She refused to let him die.

She had only walked a mile so when the land started to change. Sand replaced the sun baked ground. The wind picked up, stirring the sand and making it hard to see. She kept going. Every step hurt and her skin burned from the sunburn she had obtained. It was still so hot and carrying another person only made it worse. _I can do this!_ She kept thinking to herself. _I'm almost there… hang on Gaara!_

The sun was setting when Rei first saw the Sand Village. The sinking sun painted the sky red, orange and pink. The kunoichi was dehydrated: each breath scratched her dry throat. Her body ached and burned. The unconscious Kazekage seemed to weigh double what he really did. The sand dunes she was walking through were unsteady, causing her to stumble frequently. The approaching city renewed her determination. A few minutes later she could hear voices. Someone must have noticed them. She kept walking and another minute later she saw people. Rei dropped the Kazekage and collapsed in the sand. Her vision blurred. A sand shinobi was standing over her shouting. She was too tired to understand what he was saying. She felt herself being picked up then everything went black.

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Alright so chapter 8 is finished and there are only a few more chapters to go. I also like this chapter and I like how it shows off Rei's skills. I am very pround of my character. Like I said this is my first story so I'm an not sure how well written this fight is so please let me know how well I did. I would really appreciate it. Keep reading to find out what happens next. :)  
~Reiko


	9. Chapter 9

I will be honest. There isn't much going on in this chapter but it is still important. I tried to make some parts a little humorous but they might not be funny at all. Also two familiar characters appear. Who could they be? Only one way to find out though. Please read and enjoy. I don't own any of the characters or places because this is a fanfic  
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Chapter 9

Rei found herself lying in a comfortable bed in a dark room when she woke up. She sat up and immediately felt light-headed. Her skin hurt when she moved and was beat red from her sun burn. There were fresh bandages on her back and her side was tightly wrapped in bandages too which made it difficult to move. She was also wearing different clothes that were a bit too big for her. Her head hurt so she lay back down again and within a few minutes she was had fallen asleep.

Reiko woke with a start as someone slammed a door. She sat up quickly, causing her side to burn. A girl, who looked to be a few years older than Rei, with sandy blond hair had just walked into the room. She was wearing a black long sleeved dress with a red sash around her waist. An iron fan was strapped to her back. She turned around and saw Rei staring at her

"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up. Some crazy people from the hospital were just causing problems again. So, how are you feeling?"

"Where's Gaara?" Rei asked. Her voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk.

"Don't worry about him right now. Just focus on resting so you can get better.

"But-"

"Relax. He's alive, so please take it easy."

"Fine" she replied, too tired to argue

The girl turned and opened the door.

"Well, I just wanted to see if you're okay. I'll be back to check on you later and you better be sleeping" she said with a smile. She then walked out the door and gently closed it behind her.

Rei lay back down. She had no idea where she was or what was going on._ I'm safe right now and Gaara is alive at least._

She woke up again and stretched, causing her skin to sting. She looked out of the window that was in her room. It was late at night but she could tell she was somewhere in the sand village. She heard someone shouting outside and tried to get up to investigate. She had only managed to swing her legs over the side of the bed when the door opened and a boy dressed in all black came in. closing the door behind him.

"You better get back in bed before Temari comes in and yells at both of us." The boy sat down in a chair next to her bed and pulled down his black hood. "So how are you feeling?" he asked

"Just spiffy" she replied sarcastically

"Haha. That's good. You were in pretty bad shape when we found you."

"How's Gaara? Where is he?"

The boy's expression suddenly changed. "We'll… I don't know how to tell you this. He… he didn't make it."

"What!?" Rei grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt. "What happened?!" she growled

The boy started cracking up. "Oi, relax! I was only joking! Easy!"

Rei let go of the boy's shirt. "What the hell is wrong with you? That's not funny!"

"I'm so sorry. I couldn't help it! You should have seen the look on your face!" he continued to laugh. "Actually Gaara woke up a few minutes ago. We brought you both her two nights ago. The people at the hospital weren't' to happy about us taking him home, especially since we stole you out of there too. They were worried about you being an enemy or something? You're not are you?"

"Well that depends, who are you? And where am I?"

"Haha, maybe I should have started with that. Well, my name's Kankuro and the girl you met earlier was my sister Temari. We're Gaara's older siblings. You're in our house in the Sand Village."

"Really? Then no, I'm not an enemy"

"Alright, that's good. I didn't want to have to kill you. Well, Gaara is right across the hall. I can take you to see him in the morning if you want."

"Alright."

"Okay, well it's late. I'm going to bed. My room is right down the hall so yell if you need anything. Oh, and don't worry we'll explain everything tomorrow. See you in the morning." He got up and walked out the door. "Night" he said as he closed the door.

Rei woke up the next morning and changed back into her regular clothes, which she found repaired and clean on the dresser. She looked into the mirror on the wall and fixed her hair. It had been a while since she had last looked in at her own reflection. A large pale scar had formed across her nose from the fight in her village. Unlike most girls her age, having an ugly scar across her face didn't bother her. _Ha! Who looks bad-ass? That's right I do!_ A few minutes later Temari came in and they headed out into the hallway. They immediately heard shouting from the room across the hall.

"What the hell do you mean 'she died'?!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Hey, relax Gaara! I was only kidding!" laughed someone else. "She's not dead!"

"Don't joke like that Kankuro! Where is she? What happened to her?" yelled Gaara.

Rei couldn't hear what he said next but it had obviously pissed Gaara off.

"Darn it, Kankuro!" hissed Temari. "I'm going to kick his ass. I told him not to upset Gaara! Let's go in before someone gets hurt."

Temari opened the door and they walked in. Kankuro ducked as Gaara threw at lamp at him.

"Where the hell is-" Gaara turned to see the girl he was looking for standing by the door with a smile on her face. "Oh…" Gaara blushed bright red. "I… uh… well I just wanted to know if you were okay," He cleared his throat. "seeing as you saved me and all. You're alright then?"

"Yeah, just fantastic" she said sarcastically. The Kazekage's arm was in a sling and there was a bandage wrapped around his head. He was wearing a baggy black v-neck t-shirt. The white bandages that covered his chest and shoulder were visible above the neckline of his shirt. "Well I feel better than you look. How are you doing?"

"I've been better" he said.

"What the heck?!" yelled Kankuro as Temari struck him on the head with her fan.

"I told you not to upset Gaara. You got him all worked up for nothing. He needs his rest! What is wrong with you?!" she said as she swung her fan again.

"Oi! I said I was sorry!" he replied as he ducked beneath the fan.

Gaara sighed, obliviously annoyed with his arguing sibling. Rei couldn't help but laugh. Gaara motioned to the edge of the bed.

"You can sit down if you want."

She walked over and sat down next to him. "So this is where you live?"

"Yeah. Well…look, I wanted to thank you for what you did. If it weren't for you, I would have died.

"Now we are even" she smiled "It wasn't' a big deal."

"Rei, what happened after I was knocked out?"  
"Not much really." She said casually. She didn't want to talk about it. She had a feeling it would upset him and she didn't want to stress him out. Temari and Kankuro had stopped fighting.

"Not much? Rei, we both almost died. It was my fault you got hurt."

"Look, I'm fine. It wasn't your fault anyway. How could it have been?"

"Kisame was after me. If you weren't with me you wouldn't have been hurt."

"And you would have died. How would that have been any better. Your being stupid. It was my own fault. You told me to leave but I stayed anyways."

"Rei, tell me what happened" he demanded

"Well…"

"Why don't you just start from the beginning?" interrupted Temari. "Kankuro and I would like to know what happened."

Rei reluctantly agreed. She told them of the attack on her village and how she was able to escape but then was ambushed and lost consciousness. Gaara then took over, telling how he had found the Village in the Ash destroyed and how he found Rei. He recounted how they had traveled to the desert (though he left out the embarrassing incident at the hot springs) and finally how they ran into Kisame. "I don't remember much of the fight but Kisame said that someone had hired him to kill me. Rei tell us what happened after"

Rei nodded and told them about their fight with Kisame and what had happened after. She noticed Gaara squeezing his sheets between his hands, his knuckles turning white. _What's wrong with him? Is he mad that he was defeated so easily, or is it something else…_ "The last thing I remembered was being picked up by sand shinobi" finished Rei.

"Yeah, I was on patrol when a few of our scouts saw you heading towards the village. We decided to check it out. They quickly took Gaara to the hospital. I tried to talk to you but didn't respond. You passed out on the ground so I carried you to the hospital too. Temari and I took you two back her the next morning. That didn't make the nurses to happy" smiled Kankuro.

"Well I think you and Gaara have had enough excitement for now. You both need to rest" said Temari. She led Rei and Kankuro out of the room as Gaara waved good-bye.

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I hope that wasnt' too bad. Gaara and Rei are getting closer. Can't you feel it? Haha well if not you soon will. Gaara&Rei moment comming up in the next chapter. Hope I did okay with Temari and Kankuro. That's one reason why Rei is my favoirte character, it's easy to keep her in character because she is my own and she can do what ever I want her too. I'm really lazy so writting this much so far and working on the characters is very impressive for me. Keep reading to find out what happens next and let me know what you think  
~Reiko


	10. Chapter 10

My computer is really starting to piss me off. It keeps freezing up and I have to keep restarting it. It wouldn't bother me so much if my computer was old but its almost brand new! Ugh! Stupid Technology. Well you are not here to listent to me rant about my messed up computer. Enjoy chapter 10. The begining isn't anything special but I like the end. Rei and Gaara have an interesting time in Rei's room during the night ;) Read to find out what I'm talking about. I don't own the characters in this story they belong to somebody else :(  
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Chapter 10

Temari and Kankuro insisted that Rei stayed with them while she was in the Sand Village. After she had seen Gaara the first day she had went back to her room and slept for the rest of the day. The next afternoon Temari showed her around the house. Temari's room was next to the one she was staying in and Gaara's and Kankuro's rooms were right across the hall. The following morning Kankuro snuck her out to their private training grounds where they sparred for about a half an hour. They had to return after Rei ripped the stitches on her back. Temari caught them as they were coming back and yelled at them for a good ten minutes while she re-stitched Rei's back. She kept saying how wrong it was too do that because Rei needed to rest and Kankuro was being irresponsible. This didn't' stop them from doing the same thing for the next few mornings. Re wasn't allowed to leave the house yet so she spent most of her time in her room or sometimes hanging out with the sand siblings. When Rei wasn't in her room or with Temari or Kankuro she was sitting with Gaara in his room. Since Temari wouldn't let him out of his room, Rei sat at the end of his bed and they would just sit together. She sort of enjoyed being with him. He slept a lot those days and he wasn't a very talkative person when he was awake but Rei didn't mind. Later in the week, Temari finally let Gaara leave so he took Rei out and showed her around a small part of the village near his house.

"It's so nice here" she said as they walked down the street.

"I'm glad you like it" Gaara replied.

"I could definitely get use to this place. It's a little too hot and sunny during the day but the desert is so amazing at night. Its so creepy. I love it!"

"Umm… sure" he smiled "You know, you could probably become a sand shinobi if you wanted to"

"Really? Where would I stay though? I don't have any money. Maybe at your house?" she asked with a grin. "Your family is pretty sweet but I don't' understand them?"

"Why's that?"

"They are so nice to me but we just met and they don't really know anything about me."

"Well it's probably because of what you did for me. They also know that I… well, never mind.

"Oh, alright. Don't tell me then" she said jokingly. "Ooh what's that?" she said as she grabbed Gaara's hand.

_She's… holding my hand…again_ thought Gaara as she pulled him into a small shop. They continued their walk and then returned to Gaara's house a few hours later. They had dinner with Temari and Kankuro. After dinner Reiko and Gaara went to bed.

Rei's usually peaceful sleep didn't last that night. She soon found herself back in her village. The entire thing was on fire. Thick smoke filled the street she was running down. The bodies of dead villagers crowded every street. She kept trying to get out, but all of the exits were blocked by walls of flames. The smoke grew thicket and she soon became lost. _Damn! I have to get out of here!_ Out of nowhere she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She followed the voce to the center of town. She saw a man laying on the ground and quickly ran over to him. It was Tobi. She knelt down beside him. He looked the same as when she left him a few days ago: burned and bleeding but somehow still alive.

"Reiko?" he coughed

"It's okay Tobi, I'm here." She replied

"It… it hurts Rei…"

"I know. Just hold on. I'll get us out of here.

"Please kill me!" he begged

"What? No! Tobi, you just need to relax. You'll be fine. I'm going to save you."

"Just kill me. Kill me! Kill me Reiko!" he said in a strange mocking voice.

Tobi started laughing hysterically and he suddenly turned into Kisame. His pointed teeth showed as he laughed.

"No!" yelled Rei as she jumped back. Kisame stood up and walked towards her. He swung his sword but she couldn't move. _I'm going to die!_ A wall of sand erupted around her, deflecting his sword.

"Reiko?"

She looked around for whoever had just said her name, but couldn't see anyone. Kisame pulled his sword out and raised it above his head.

"Reiko!"

"Reiko!"

She woke with a start. Gaara was standing over her, holding her arm. She was shaking and covered in sweat.

"Hey, Rei are you alright? I heard you yell so I came to check on you"

"Yeah… fine…"she panted, trying to catch her breath.

"Nightmare?"

Rei just nodded her head. Gaara wasn't really sure what to do. He was bad with people and normally avoided situation like this but Rei was different. He got this strange feeling whenever he was with her. He had asked Kankuro about it a few days ago. Kankuro had laughed at him and said, "Looks like our little brother is in love!" _Impossible! I don't love anyone. I can't love anyone… can I? Bah! Such a stupid idea._ He still wanted to make her feel better so he walked around to the side of the bed. He sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. He could feel the start of the wound that stretched from her shoulder to her hip.

"Are you sure your okay?" he asked

Rei leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm fine." Gaara held onto her until she stopped trembling.

"Well, I just wanted to see if you were okay. Umm, I should probably go back to bed and let you sleep.

"You can stay here if you want"

"I think it would be better if we both got some rest."

"I meant you can sleep here. Your already in bed so why not?"

"Uh, I guess I could. If that would make you feel better." Rei moved closer and leaned back on his chest. _I'll take that as a yes_. He put his arm around her. She was soon fast asleep with her head on his uninjured shoulder. Gaara let out a yawn. He felt uncomfortable at first, being this close to her, and not on accident, but he soon got over it. The Kazekage looked down at the girl in his arms. She looked so calm and relaxed. The pale scar that ran across her nose seemed to glow in the moonlight that shown though the window. He let out a sigh and rested his head on hers. He closed his eyes and fell asleep listening to the sound of her steady breathing.

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Awww! They are so funny together. And wasn't that sweet of him? ;) Sorry if any of you were hoping for something a bit more naughty or saucy but that's not in here anywhere. Too bad for you. You should know that Gaara, being as anti-social as he is, wouln't do anything like that. He is way to socially awkward. (But I still love him!) I really enjoyed this chapter and I hope you did to. Let me know what you think


	11. Chapter 11

The end of the story is near! Rei and Gaara have found some peace at the village, but will it last. Let's hope not! That would make for a very boring end to this story. There needs to be more violence and death! And more blood! Yay violence! Muhahaha! *clears throat* I apologize. Please enjoy...  
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Chapter 11

Rei was laying in Gaara's arm when she woke up the next morning. She could feel his breathing on the top of her head. She laid there for a few more minutes then slowly pulled away, careful not to wake the sleeping Kazekage. She got out of bed and quickly dressed. It was dark out still, the sun hadn't risen yet. She walked over to the window and opened it, letting in the warm, dry air. She quietly climbed out the window and onto the roof above it to watch the sun come up.

Gaara woke up a few minutes later to find Rei gone. _What time is it?_ He thought as he sat up. He felt a breeze and turned to se the window open. He walked over to it and stuck his head out. The warm wind ruffled his hair. The sun was just coming up so he wasn't late. _I wonder where Rei went?_ He looked up to the sky and noticed two legs swinging over the roof. _Rei?_ He crawled out the window and used sand to get onto the roof, seeing as his arm was still in a sling. Rei was laying on the roof with her legs dangling over the edge. She was starring into the sky.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked

"Oh, hey. I'm was just watching the sun come up" she replied.

He sat down next to her, remembering the countless times he had sat on the same room, watching the stars. "Do you always sit on the roof to watch the sun come up?"

No, anywhere that's high up will do. You just get a better view from higher up. And I actually prefer to watch the sun go down. The sky is so much prettier when its dark. Too bad I haven't had the time to do that recently." She said with a frown

"You are very strange"

"For your sake, I'll take that as a compliment."

He smiled. "Of coarse. So, what would you like to do today? Temari and Kankuro left on a trip to Konoha a few hours ago, so it's just the two of us."

"Don't you have to work?"

"Yeah but you can come with me if you want. Then we can do something later."

"Sure. I would love to see what a Kazekage actually does" she said as she stood up.

"Well, let me get dressed and then we will get going. I'll meet you outside in ten minutes."

"Kay." Reiko walked over to the edge of the roof. She gracefully flipped off the roof and, using the surrounding buildings, hopped to the ground. Gaara looked down and saw shocked people standing in the streets or looking out their windows. They were all starring at the teenage girl that had jumped off the three story building.

_Whats with this girl?_ Thought Gaara.

"Hurry up Gaara! You don't want to be late!" she called up to him.

_Why can't she be normal?_ Gaara quickly jumped inside before anyone could see him.

He got ready as fast as he cold and walked outside, swinging his sand gourd onto his back.

"What took you so long?" asked Rei as Gaara closed his front door.

"Well, I took the stairs," he replied, "which I would appreciate you doing next time. Young women jumping off buildings tends to draw a lot of attention." He threw the kunoichi her stuff.

"Aww but taking the stairs is way too boring" she wined as she attached her sword and bag. Gaara couldn't help but smile. The two shinobi headed towards Gaara's office in the large building near the center of town. Rei let out a yawn as they walked.

"So when are you going to tell me about that jutsu of yours?"

"You still want to know about that?"

"Sure."

"I already told you that you had to guess. I'm not going to tell you."

"Fine. Will you tell me if I guess right?"

"Of coarse"

"Hmm, lets see… is it magic?" Rei rolled her eyes and sighed. "No? Alright. How about this. Your bones in your hand are infused with metal that join together making the bones and joints stronger and hard to bend?"

"What the…! How did you know that?"

"Read your medical profile" he smirked

"And where did you get that?"

"Well, I am the Kazekage and you stayed at our hospital. Ever new person gets a report filled out on them."

"That's cheating!" she whined. "Why did you even bother asking me if you already knew?"

"Oh I don't know. Just payback for not telling me from the start.

"You're an asshole" pouted Rei

"If you say so. Alright, well here we are" he said, motioning towards the large building in front of them.

"Wow… fancy" commented Rei.

The two headed up to the building but unfortunately never made it inside. A large explosion suddenly went off near the main gate.

"What the hell was that!?" yelled Rei

"I have no idea but we need to check it out. Lets go." Replied the Kazekage.

Rei followed Gaara as the raced through the village. They ran into an injured sand shinobi.

"Lord Kazekage!"

"What is going on here?" asked Gaara

"I don't really know Sir. These men just came out of no where. They blew up the main entrance and started attacking. Our shinobi have intercepted them and are fighting now."

"Alright. Get yourself to the hospital"

"Yes Kazekage, Sir!' said the shinobi then quickly ran off.

"Are you okay to fight Rei?"

"Hell yeah! I've been getting a little bored just sitting around. How about you? Will you be alright fighting with just one arm?"

"I think so. Let's go then."

The two made there way to the front gate where they quickly joined the fight. Gaara pulled sand out of his gourd and sent it flying towards the enemy. Rei drew her sword and ran off towards the middle of the fight.

Gaara soon noticed that Rei was no longer with him. _Damn it! _"Reiko!" He looked around him but he couldn't see her. He couldn't let anyone hurt her this time. He searched through the crowd, fighting the enemy while he looked._ Where could she be?!?!_ Another explosion caught his attention, drawing his focus away from the fight. An explosion had gone off at the south gate. An enemy used this time to attack the distracted Kazekage. The man charged. Gaara turned to see the shinobi with his sword raised. Out of nowhere Rei leapt from a roof, her knees slamming into he man's chest as she drove her sword through him.

"Now you owe me one Gaara." She smiled as she got up and brushed herself off.

"Where have you been?"

"Fighting. Why? Where have you been?

"Never mind. Rei don't these guys look familiar?" questioned Gaara as Re defeated another man.

"I don't think s- Wait! You have to be kidding me! These are the same rouge ninja that attacked my village. I'm sure of it. Look at their uniforms. What do they want?"  
"I have no idea but now is not the time to ask" he said as he crushed a man with desert coffin.

"Let's go kick some ass then!" said Rei as she ran towards the south gate

"Alright but stick with me. Rei? Reiko?!" he turned around and saw her running back towards the other gate. "Reiko! Wait!" he yelled as he ran after her.

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No! Rei, come back! Haha! See there is more action again and it will continue! Yay! Hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think of the story so far.  
~Reiko


	12. Chapter 12

Only three more chapters to go! I would like to take the time to thank you if you have read this far. I know my story isn't amazing but you have kept on reading. Either you like it or you have no life (maybe your like me and it's both) but it doesn't matter. You are still reading. Thanks! Enjoy.  
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Chapter 12

Reiko ran through a destroyed building with Gaara close behind. _What can these guys want? First the hidden Ash Village and now the Sand? No! Now's not the time. Right now I need to focus on the fight. Kick ass first, ask questions later!_

"Reiko"

She looked behind to see Gaara. "Yes"

"Don't go running off. I want you to stick with me for this fight. I don't want anything happening to you.

Rei stopped running. "Oh please! Gaara I am fully capable of taking care of myself. I don't need to be watched over like a small child. I eat small children!

"Rei I'm not going to let your get hurt because of me. Not again.

"Not this again!" she began running again. "Gaara this is completely different. And how many times do I need to tell you it wasn't your fault. I could have left at anytime but I chose to stay. Why do you worry about me so much? She jumped up onto a set of stairs and continued onto the roof of a building "These guys are weak. I would like to see them try and kill me! They don't stand a ch- Ooh Shit!" Rei jumped onto the next roof but lost her balance as she landed causing her to fall backwards towards the alley below them. Gaara quickly shot out sand and grabbed her before she could hit the ground.

"Don't get cocky. You will end up dead."

"Alright. I'm sorry. I get it. I need to be a little more careful." Gaara set her gently back on the roof. "Thanks" She mumbled as she dusted sand off her clothing.

"Stay with me"

Rei rolled her eyes. "Alright. What ever! I guess someone has to keep an eye on you"

"Thank you. And by the way, we're even again."

"No way! That fall wouldn't have killed me!"

"Doesn't matter. I still saved you"

"What ever. Are we just going to stand here and talk while the rest of your village fights or shall we go?"

"Yeah lets go"

"Alright then," she replied, "just try and keep up" she winked before dashing off towards the Gate.

Everything was quiet when the two shinobi reached the south gate.

"Gaara, where is everyone?"

"All the citizens must have evacuated from this area already. Most of the sand-nin are all at the first gate. We need to be careful, this might be a trap."

"Gotcha"

The two continued on with caution to the gate. There was still no sign of the enemy. All of a sudden a woman screamed.

"Help! Someone please help!"

The shinobi turned towards the sound.

"What was that?" asked Rei "Let's go check it out" Rei ran towards the direction of the voice.

"Wait Rei! It could be a trap!" He sprinted after her.

Rei arrived at the house that the yelling had come fro. As she approached the front door the screaming stopped. Gaara ran up behind her.

"Reiko! Are you insane?" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down. "This is probably a trap."

"I know, but if there is someone in there, it's our job to help them."

"Alright, just be careful"

Rei nodded her head and slowly reached for the door. She pushed it open. Gaara stood behind her, tense, ready to shield the both of them if needed. They both walked in and looked around. They headed further into the house but there was no sign of anyone.

"Rei, I don't like this. We need to go"

"Yeah, your right. I have a bad feeling about this."

The two shinobi turned and headed for the door. Out of nowhere the door slammed shut. An illusion was broken, revealing paper bombs lining the walls. They crackled as they started to burn. Gaara reached out and pulled Rei tight against him, as he threw up a wall of sand. The bombs went off, blasting pieces of the wall into the alley next to the house. Gaara still held Rei close to him. Before the dust from the explosion cleared, another one went of from behind them. Gaara quickly shot up sand, but wasn't fast enough. The sand protected them from most of the blast, but Rei was still torn out of Gaara's arms as the blast send them flying into the ally. Reiko yelled in pain as she hit the wall of an adjacent building and landed in a pile of ruble. Gaara was likewise thrown into a wall, knocking the wind out of him.

"Gaara! Gaara are you alright?" she coughed as she tried to climb out of the rubble.

"I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"I… I'm fine" she replied as she dug herself out of the pile of wall fragments. Gaara managed to climb over to her and pulled her up. She stumbled into his arms as she tripped. She could feel small drops of blood on her back where the still healing scab had cracked and started to bleed

"Rei? Whats wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Damn ruble. I tripped."

Come on," he said as he tightly grabbed her wrist. H pulled her away from the pile of debris. "Let's get out of here now"

That plan didn't work because as soon as the smoke and dust cleared, Rei and Gaara found themselves completely surrounded.

"Aww, shit…" cursed Rei

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How will they get out of this mess? Keep reading to find out! I have said it 11 times already and I will say it again; please let me know what you think!  
~Reiko


	13. Chapter 13

Two more chapter to go! This really needs to be done because the entire time I am working on this I am eating out of my Easter Basket which is right in front of me. I'm going to get fat! I weigh under 110 and I would really like to keep it that way! Anyways please enjoy chapter 13...  
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Chapter 13

As the smoke cleared Rei looked around. About twenty of the rouge ninjas now surrounded them, standing in the streets and on the surrounding roofs. _Damn! It's just my luck that we get caught in a trap set by the biggest group!_ though Reiko.

"Well, look what we have here, boys!" said a small, fat man with a large mustache. He stood on the roof of the building in front of them. "The sand village's very own Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara."

"What do you want? Who the hell are you? Rei yelled up to him. She reached for her sword but Gaara grabbed her arm.

"No. There are too many of them. We need to find a way out" he said quietly.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking the Sand Village?" she asked the man. She was trying to remain calm but the anger in her voice was rising. "And why did you destroy the Hidden Ash Village?!"

"Silence girl!" he barked. "I don't have to answer your questions" said the man. "Get 'em boys! Kill the girl but leave the Kazekage alive. I bet some one would pay a lot of money for him" he grinned.

"Rei, stay back and let me handle this" said Gaara calmly. _This time I will protect you!_

"No," she replied. "We fight together, back to back. You can protect me and I will protect you." She turned her back to the Kazekage to face their opponents at the other side of the small street, and drew her sword. Gaara sighed, he knew he couldn't reason with her, she was too stubborn.

"Be careful" he said as he pulled sand out of his gourd and swirled it around them.

The men sprang at them. Gaara shot out sand, preventing anyone from getting close to him. He crushed the life out of anyone who was unfortunate enough to be caught by the sand. _I need to protect Reiko. I won't allow her to get hurt because of me. I'm going to keep her safe this time. Die you bastards!_ He quickly smothered a man with sand, muffling his screams. Gaara easily crushed him.

There was a clang of metal striking metal as Rei deflected shurikan with her sword. She dodged a sword and quickly stabbed it's owner. Another man charged at her but she jumped up and pushed off his back, causing him to fall forward. She flipped in the air and landed in front of another man. She stabbed him then spun around, her long hair whipping through the air. She sliced the man she had jumped over as he struggled to get up. She twisted around and blocked a sword with hers then kicked the man in the chest. She took a few step back so she was back to back with Gaara again.

Two rouge ninjas appeared to the sides of Gaara and another appeared in front of him. They simultaneously shot a fire jutsu at him. Gaara was too fast for them and brought up a wall of sand, shielding Rei and himself from the attack. While the Kazekage was distracted, a man leapt off the roof above them. He threw kunai down at the unaware sand shinobi. Rei noticed the man right before he jumped and quickly knocked her opponent into the wall beside them. She impaled her sword through his shoulder, leaving it lodged in the wooden wall behind them. She man was screaming in pain. He was pinned and unable to move. She quickly pulled Gaara out of the way as he finished off the fire jutsu users. She wasn't' fast enough though. Gaara grimaced as the man put a long gash strait down his upper arm. As the man landed on the ground, Rei grew her nails into daggers and stabbed him through the stomach with her right hand. Warm blood flowed down her wrist and forearm. Another man came up from behind them with a long knife in his hand. Rei spun around and was met with a sharp pain in her side. She grunted in pain then quickly killed the man. He dropped to the ground dead with a bloody knife clenched in his hand.

Gaara moved behind her. The two shinobi fought until all of their opponents were either dead or had fled the fight. Rei and Gaara were both breathing hard and covered in sweat. Gaara cautiously lowered his sand and returned it to his gourd. Reiko leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground with her hand on her side. Gaara took a few moments to slow his heavy breathing.

"That's all of them" he panted as he pulled Rei up. She still clutched her side. "Are you alright?"

"Fine" she lied. Her side was burning and she began to feel lightheaded. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I got a few cuts and bruises but yes.

''Good" she sighed. We should-" Rei grimaced and clutched her side harder.

"Reiko! What's wrong?"

She dropped to her knees and fell forward. Rei would have hit the ground face first if Gaara had not caught her. He leaned her against himself.

"Reiko? What happened? Look at me. What's wrong?"

She removed her hand from her side. Her hand was covered in fresh blood, which Gaara soon realized was hers. Her jacked was ripped and her could see a dark stain just under her ribs. "I… I got stabbed again" she laughed weakly. "I… I think it was… poisoned."

Gaara unzipped her jacket. Her side was covered in blood. "Shit" He picker her up. His still healing shoulder started to throb from the added weight, but he ignored it. "I'll get you to the hospital." Her head leaned against his chest and she pulled her arms around his neck. "Hold on."

_What do you think I am doing Gaara?!?_

The Kazekage quickly headed towards the hospital. He could feel Rei's breath against his neck. She was shaking harder. _No! I can't let her die! Come on Reiko, don't die on me! _"Hold on a little longer, we're almost there" Her arms slipped from around his neck. Gaara could see the hospital now. "Damn it Rei! Don't you dare die!

_Baka! It's not like I'm trying to!_ She winced as pain shot through he side. She was starting to go numb. _I'm sorry… Gaara. There's nothing I can do… The poison… It's spreading._

_No! No! NO!_ "Reiko, stay with me" he said gently. "We are almost there. Your going to be fine. You can't die. I care about you so much. I don't' know what I would do if I lost you."

_Huh?!? What did you just say? I'm trying to… hold… hold on. I don' plan on dying._ "Gaara…I…" she mumbled as she tried to remain conscious. Gaara burst through the hospital doors.

"I need a medic!" _Please hold on! Don't die, you can't die. Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone again…_

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Oh no! Don't die Reiko! Gaara needs you! I just love Rei. She's such a smart ass even when she is dying. :) Well keep reading to find out what happens! Will Rei live or die? Will they live happily ever after or will Gaara be left alone and terribly sad? Only one way to find out.;) Please let me know how I did with the fight and with everything else. I know Gaara was really out of character but love makes people do crazy things :)  
~Reiko


	14. Chapter 14

Yay! Final chapter! I won't bother you with pointless words. Read!...please!  
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Chapter 14

Rei struggled to remain conscious as she was moved through the hospital. All of the different voices around her confused her and gave her a pounding head ache. Her whole body felt like it was burning and sweat covered her trembling limbs. Some one was holding her arm. She looked over to see it was Gaara. It was getting hard to breath. She felt a medic jam needles into her arm then she passed out.

Rei's nose twitched as something tickled the side of her face. Something heavy was on her arm. She tried to open her eyes but the bright lights above her burned her eyes. _Where… am I? And whose idea was it to have all these damn lights? Ugh, If I wasn't so beat up from the fight I'd get up and- Wait, the fight! What happened?_ She forced her eyes open and blinked away the tears in her eyes caused by the blinding lights. She was in what looked like a hospital room. Her head pounded and her side was throbbing. She felt her side. It hurt when she touched it but it was bandaged. She turned her head to the side to find a familiar red head asleep in a chair with his head on her arm. His hair was in her face. She poked him in the forehead.

"Hmm? What? I'm awake…" he mumbled.

"Umm, would you mind getting off my arm? I'm starting to lose feeling in it"

"What?" he looked up to see Rei looking at him. "Oh! I apologize" he quickly moved back. "You've been asleep for a day. How are you feeling?" He was still wearing he same clothes from the day before but he had taken off his jacket and was just wearing a tight-fitting black t-shirt that showed off his muscular arms and chest. His upper arm was wrapped in a bandage.

"Alright" she replied. She sat up causing her head to swim. She was surprised to see she was still wearing her same clothes as well except for her jacket which was on the back of Gaara's chair.

"That's good. How much do you remember from yesterday?"

"Hmm… I remember getting to the hospital but nothing more. Why do you ask?"

"You remember what I said then?"

"Umm… You said a lot of things."

"Can you give me a normal answer? You know what I mean."

"Sorry" she smiled. "I think I know what you mean."

"Well I just wanted to say th-"

The door suddenly flew open and Rei found herself being crushed by a back breaking hug.

"Oh my God! I'm so glad you both alive! I'm so sorry we weren't there!"

"Temari?" gasped Rei "I can't breath"

"Oh sorry" she laughed as she released her. She sad down at the end of the bed. Kankuro stood in the doorway.

"We just got back and found the village a mess. We heard what happened and came right here" he said "You both alright?"

"I'm fine" replied Gaara

"Well, I'm better than I could be" said Reiko

"So what happened to you guys?" asked Temari

"How about you guys go home and unpack first. You've had a long trip so go rest. I'll tell you when I come home tonight" said Gaara without looking at them.

"What?" whined Temari. "We just hot here! I'm your older sister. You can't tell me what to do."

"Let's go Temari" chuckled Kankuro. "Can't you tell the man wants some privacy?" Gaara scowled at him. "Well go talk to Baki-sensei and see if we can help with anything. He'll fill us in."

"Oh alright" she said. She followed Kankuro out the door. "Have fun you two" she winked as she closed the door.

"Annoying fools" growled Gaara. He sighed, "Sorry"

"It's alright. I think they are funny" she smiled. "So what did happen?"

"Well the leader of the group that attacked us ran off during the fight."

"Ha! Coward!"

"Anyways, one of our guys picked him up and brought him in for interrogation. He said they were trying to take over the land of Wind. They were also the ones who sent Kisame after us. We found out who their leader is and have sent a squad to get him. He won't get away."

"That's good." She replied. They sat there in silence for a minute. Then Gaara got up and walked over to the side of the bed. "You cant sit here all day in a hospital bed. It doesn't suit you."

"What?" Gaara picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the window. "Oi! What are you doing? Gaara! Put me down! Where are you taking me?"

"You said you liked to watch the sun go down so lets go"

They Kunoichi glared at the man holing her. He only looked down at her with a kind expression on his face. She rolled her eyes. "Fine"

He opened the window and leapt out onto a platform of sand. He lifted them up to the roof and set Rei down, seating himself close beside her. After a few minutes he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package. hehe Gaara's package is anything but small

"I got you something. If you want it, that is."

Rei took the package and unwrapped it. Inside was a new sand village forehead protector.

"You can become a shinobi here if you want. It's up to you. You don't have to accept it if you don't want it" he laid back against the warm tiles on the roof.

"Wow, well I don't know what to say."

"Yes or no"

She smiled. "Sure, I guess I'll stay" She tied the headband loosely around her neck then moved next to the Kazekage.

"Good. I'm glad you'll stay in the village. Your welcome to stay in our house. There are plenty of rooms." He paused for a moment a if thinking of what to say next. "We would… well I would really like it if you stayed with me… well us."

"Oh really? Now why is that?" she said with a mischievous grin.

_She's toying with me. I should have known she wasn't going to make this easy for me._ He propped himself up on his elbow so he was facing her and she looked over at him. "Alright Rei, there's something… something I want to tell you."

"Oh, this should be good" she commented.

"He mentally sighed and rolled his eyes but other wise ignored her comment. He had been around her long enough to know that she used sarcasm to hid her real emotions. "Rei, I don't want you to leave me… ever. I had been alone for so long until I had met someone who helped me change that. I became closer to Temari and Kankuro and found out how good it felt to not always be alone. Knowing you makes me realize what he really meant about the people you care about being the most important thing. If you left I would feel alone again. Rei… I don't want to feel that way anymore." He lied back down. "I have to admit… I seem to have grown quite… fond of you"

Rei lied down next to Gaara. "Oh really now? Well, I'd say that I have also grown quite fond of you too" she smiled. She turned her head and looked over Gaara. He gently brushed some of her black hair away from her face then leaned in and kissed her and she kissed him back. She rested her head on his warm chest. Her head felt fuzzy and she couldn't tell if it was from her medicine or because she had just been kissed by Gaara. "And yes, I will stay with you and we can be not-lonely together"

The Kazekage wrapped his arms around the small kunoichi and buried his face in her hair. "Good"

**~~END~~**

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Yay! Finished! You didn't really think I would let Rei die did you? She is way to cool to be killed in that fight. I really like the ending and I think it was good. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I have finished this so I can finally start my next story! It will be a sequel to this one so you will be able to see what happens with these Rei and Gaara. It's no big deal if you didnt' review the other chapters but I would really love it if you could review for this final one. Let me know what you thouht of the story and let me know if you don't think I should write another one and why. Maybe it will keep me from making a fool of myself by writing another epic failure of a story. Also if you have any funny ideas for situations between the captured Reiko and naruto's team (ooh spoiler for next story!) let me know! I'm open to suggestions. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Wait no I don't... I hated writing this. It drove me crazy but I am happy with the finished product and I love my story. So I hope you liked the story as much as I do :)  
~Reiko


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